If you have a banking relationship at a bank of credit union then go there and discuss your needs. If you don't have a banking relationship then go set that up first. You should apply for a secured credit card. That should get you started so you can get a credit score. After 6 months of good payment history and you have a score you then should be ready to apply for a unsecured credit card and/or a store card. apply only once each months. Good luck!

Forget secured cards, forget cards that "graduate," they are for teenagers and people who are irresponsible with money. Start at your credit union, the smaller the better, they will most likely approve you for a credit card. Use it well for a year, then you will have a decent score: mid 700's (you won't have a high score because of your lack of history). At that point apply for big bank cards. Apply for good cards to hold on to and apply for lots of them (provided there have no annual fee) and with different banks. Afterwards, should you apply for a new card, your average age of accounts won't take a big hit since you have many open credit lines already.

BambiBrute wrote:I'm 20 and I'm beginning to look into raising/starting my credit. I'm not exactly sure how to begin, all I have to go on is "store credit" from what everyone is telling me.

How did you start off your credit? This might help me with some insight on what to expect and the do's and don'ts.

If you are still in college then i say go for a college card with your bank. If you have a job and have been banking with them for a while you should get one no problem. That was how I started credit with my college card at Wellsfargo.

as agp stated, stay away from secured cards and store cards. as everyone else has stated, stick with your local bank and apply for a college card from them if they have one available. if not apply for one of their lower tier cards. capital one is fairly easy to get a credit card with as well but in my own opinion, i feel its better to stay away from capital one.

i know discover's college credit card is fairly easy to obtain. a friend of mine who has near to no income, who is also in school, has no credit history was accepted 3 months ago. but ymmv whenever it comes to credit cards

whats your income btw? we could probably turn you to a specific card if we knew what your income and your background. any loans?

i started off with a college credit card from wells fargo back in 2011 with a 12k income. they started me at $800 credit limit. was my first ever credit card at the age of 21

agp wrote:Forget secured cards, forget cards that "graduate," they are for teenagers and people who are irresponsible with money. Start at your credit union, the smaller the better, they will most likely approve you for a credit card. Use it well for a year, then you will have a decent score: mid 700's (you won't have a high score because of your lack of history). At that point apply for big bank cards. Apply for good cards to hold on to and apply for lots of them (provided there have no annual fee) and with different banks. Afterwards, should you apply for a new card, your average age of accounts won't take a big hit since you have many open credit lines already.

+1. Looking back I dont really regret how I started (with an unsecured card from a predatory company that targets college students) but if I could do it over again, I'd do it like he said.

I've been working at my current job since December 1st of 2009. I've been with Chase since 06/11 (checking and savings). When I opened my account, they also had me apply for one of their cards knowing my no history situation, and obviously was denied. I have an annual income of about 15k.

I'm not in school at the moment, but I was when I opened my Chase account and that's why I have a college student account with them. I was searching around and though about applying for the Capital One Journey for students when I got back to school this winter, but I don't know how long I would have to actually be attending for them to approve me. So maybe a student card wouldn't be so easy to obtain.

Plus I want a card before the holidays to actually be able to work this credit as much as I can haha.

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